Reaching the unserved: Bangsamoro Education Ministry ramps up support for school-less barangays
Schools and learning centers remain closed. Learning is delivered through home-based modalities. For young learners starting kindergarten, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way they learn. It has magnified the challenges being faced by children living in school-less barangays. A report in 2019 notes that out of the 2,490 barangays of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), 760 are without elementary schools or teachers, and 210 are school-less barangays or without learning facility.
Filling this need is why the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) in partnership with the Australian-funded Education Pathways to Peace in Mindanao (Pathways) introduced an alternative education delivery program called Abot Kaalaman para sa Pamilyang Bangsamoro (AKAP-Bangsamoro) to provide access to quality inclusive education for children in geographically isolated barangays.
Today, this face of the BARMM is changing. AKAP-Bangsamoro is now in 93 school-less barangays in the provinces of Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao. More than 2,700 kindergarten learners are gaining basic skills in literacy, numeracy, language, and values formation.
One component of the initiative is a “convergence framework” where collective support is being lobbied across BARMM agencies, local governments, community organisations, and within MBHTE’s various programs to improve education service delivery in AKAP-Bangsamoro villages.
“We have allotted resources from the 2020 Block Grant to support AKAP learning centers and learners. Most of these learners belong to families that are displaced and disadvantaged and are living in geographically isolated barangays. Beginning April 2021, we have started distributing teaching materials, school supplies and recently food supplies under the School Based Feeding Program (SBFP),” said Dr. Anwar Saluwang, Head of the MBHTE’s AKAP-Bangsamoro Program Technical Working Group (TWG).
On the other hand, Pathways’ support covers monthly refresher trainings with learning facilitators; teaching supplies such as trolley bags with instructional materials; and recently an On the Go device to facilitate teaching and learning sounds and videos by connecting it through a smartphone.
“These supplies are very helpful for our cluster classes, lesson delivery, and in the development of teaching aids and materials ,” said Racma Paute Dansal, 48, learning facilitator at Talao, Tambo in Piagapo Municipality of Lanao del Sur.
With support from Australia and through the Consortium of the Bangsamoro Civil Society and BRAC Philippines, AKAP-Bangsamoro implements community engagement activities, dialogues with local governments, and technical support in the day to day teaching operations through module development and capacity building for parents and educators.
“Enrolling children in school is just one objective of AKAP-Bangsamoro. The other tasks are to ensure that our learners and their families are well-resourced and supported, their learning facilitators trained, and communities take part in education provision and advocacy. This holistic approach will help facilitate the children’s continued learning and motivation to stay in school, especially during these difficult times,” Dr. Saluwang added.
